1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a management mediating device that mediates information transmitted and received between a management system and an image processing apparatus. Particularly, the present invention relates to a management mediating device that is provided for managing an image processing apparatus (a management object system) in an environment where a management system provided at a remote position performs communication, via the Internet, with the image processing apparatus provided inside a fire wall. Further, the present invention relates to an image processing apparatus that has a management mediating function of managing the image processing apparatus in an environment where a management system provided at a remote position performs communication, via the Internet, with the image processing apparatus provided inside a fire wall.
2. Description of the Related Art
There was developed a system in which a management object system established at a customer side (e.g., a facsimile machine, a copier, a printer, and so on) is managed from a remote management system established at position that is far from the management object system.
In the conventional remote management system, a plurality of image processing apparatuses at the side of a customer are protected and managed by an operation of a management system provided at a remote position via a communication line such as a telephone line. The remote management using the connection of the telephone line results in communication cost increase. In order to decrease the communication cost, there is a possible method in which the remote management is performed by using the Internet connection established from the local network at the side of a customer.
There is a possibility that a third party intrudes into the local network at a company, and data and a program of the company are illegally copied, altered or destroyed. For this reason, in many cases, a fire wall is provided at the local network. Accordingly, when the conventional remote management system is used as it is, the existence of the fire wall makes it difficult to perform the remote management of an image processing apparatus in the local network from the management system connected to the local network via an outside network such as the Internet.
When the image processing apparatus connected to the local network inside the fire wall is connected to the management system by using the Internet connection, there are many cases where the management system cannot transmit an instruction or request directly to the image processing apparatus due to the fire wall. This is because the fire wall is generally set such that a request transmitted to the Internet from the system inside the local network of the customer can pass though the fire wall, and a response to this request can pass through the fire wall, but a request transmitted from the Internet to the system inside the local network cannot pass through the fire wall.
In a case where the management object system is managed via the Internet, since the management object system is generally established inside a fire wall, it is necessary to start to make a connection to the remote management system from the management object system provided inside the fire wall in order to perform an HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) communication.
However, the management system has a convenient and inconvenient timing, so that at a condition where only when the management object system makes a connection, the management system can issue a command to the management object system, the management system cannot perform management at an appropriate timing.